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Thursday, 2 May 2013

VBites East Street.

VBites has moved to central Brighton and today I was their first customer! I've been peering through the windows for weeks and I was excited to finally get to step inside. VBites have fancied up the old Aloka location on East Street and I must say they've done a wonderful job. The whole place is light, bright, airy and stuffed full of vegan goodies.

The shelves are full of staples, from soups, beans and pasta to cereal, peanut butter and tea. They have a small selection of veggies and fresh bread and plenty of exciting treats like Chocoreale, Dame Blanche cookies and even raw chocolate buttons.

The fridge is stuffed full of an unsurprisingly impressive range of Cheezly, mock meats and fish substitutes as well as drinks, margarine, plant milks and creams.

They have an impressive chocolate selection too which includes every kind of Go Max bar and plenty of Moo Free.

The main thing I was excited about though was the menu. I had heard that it would be different from the menu at the Lagoon location and that's definitely correct. This menu has a great balance of mock meat dishes like the Classic VBeefy Burger, VB Fishy & Fries and their No Meat Feast pizza and homemade comfort food classics like the Tuscan Bean & Fusilli Soup, Classic Homemade Beanburger and a Falafel Wrap.

As I was there early (I wasn't kidding about being the first customer - they unlocked the door for me!) they were still serving the breakfast menu which runs from 8:30 - 11 daily. These hours aren't set in stone but I'm really hoping they'll be able to keep the early opening time, it's hard to grab breakfast before work in this city and it's currently impossible to find a vegan breakfast before 10 on a Sunday!

Whilst I was tempted by the Full English I decided to go for the Rasher Roll, their version of a bacon butty, which is not something you can find elsewhere in Brighton. There was a choice of bap, wholewheat or white, and it comes with three rashers, tomato and both mayo and ketchup.

This sarnie would be the perfect start to any day. The rashers were perfectly crisped around the edges, the warm tomatoes added a more gourmet edge to the British classic and the balance of mayo and ketchup was spot on.

VBites are also selling slices of cake, shortbread biscuits and pastries alongside a delicious sounding selection of sandwiches (including classics like Coronation Chicken and Cheese & Pickle) and baked potatoes with a wide range of fillings. There's a breakfast bar in the morning where you can plate up your own granola and at lunchtime it turns into a salad bar.

I loved my first visit and I'm already tempted to go back for more. I'd definitely say that this VBites location is a must visit for any vegan visiting Brighton.

I was there today and was pleased to see a good range of Redwoods stuff in the chiller (although I think they are a bit dearer than in Infinity which I thought was strange).

I tried a slice of chocolate cake which was quite nice but could have been a bit more chocolatey.

I had just eaten at the Sussex Food market so was too full to eat anything but I'm looking forward to trying the menuI was disappointed to learn they are closing at 6pm but they may change this if the demand is there and they will be doing supper nights from time to time.

I really hope that they do change and open later. Brighton really needs a cafe / relaxed food place people can go to after work! The Redwood stuff (well the Cheezly anyway) is 6p more expensive than in Infinity foods. Strange!

As the anon commenter below pointed out Go Max are in fact still vegan but due to possible cross contamination issues they cannot claim to be entirely dairy free and therefor suitable for dairy allergy sufferers.

What an amazing shop. Moo Free is my favorite--my British friend Sue got me hooked on the bar with banana chips. A Full English sounds mighty yummy to me. Brighton seems like such a cool, hip, progressive place to live

That fully stocked fridge is a thing of beauty! Why, oh why can't be have one of these in the states? We need more all-vegan stores! I would probably go broke if I had easy access to this store, though.

Just discovered your brilliant Blog, can't wait to navigate around, it's going to be a surprise aroud every corner I think...I love Brighton and was taken to Terre a Terre for a milestone birthday a few years ago. x

ABOUT ME

Oh hey! I'm Jojo! Vegan in Brighton is my travel, food and lifestyle blog. I'm currently living my life on the road as I made the leap from endless wanderluster to full time traveller in January 2015. Find out more about me, my travel plans, my likes and dislikes, and how to work with me on the About Me page.